Relationships between some Quantitative Characters in Selected Cowpea Germplasm [(Vigna unguiculata L. (Walp)]

Abstract

The morphotypic variations of eight local varieties (‘Achishiru’, ‘Aloka local’, ‘Borno local’, ‘Danila’, ‘Danmisira’, ‘Danwuri’, ‘Kanannado’ and ‘Yambare’) of cowpea [Vigna unguiculata L. (Walp)] were studied in relation to their yield in 2004 rainy season. Simple correlation coefficients among the different pairs of variables were computed using mean values for each variable. The genotypic (rg), phenotypic (rp) and environmental (re) correlation coefficients were estimated. The magnitude of the genotypic correlation coefficients were in most cases higher than their corresponding phenotypic (rp) and environmental (re) correlation coefficients. High and positive rg exists between days to 50% flowering and plant height (rg=0.9113), days to maturity and fodder weight (rg=0.9301), days to maturity and 100 seed weight (rg =0.6958) and number of leaves per plant and fodder weight (rg=0.8096). On the other hand, high but negative rg exists between plant height and pod per plant (rg=-0.6011). Also, the relationship between days to maturity, and number of seed per pod were all negative and moderate.